Transformative Recovery of Low-Grade Waste Heat using Ionic Thermoelectrics

电子热电利用半导体将余热转化为电能。这是一项成熟的能源发电技术，例如，NASA使用它为火星漫游者提供动力。但是，它不太适合低品位的废热回收，因为小温差发电很差。离子导体产生的热电压要大得多，更适合于接近室温的操作。然而，它们不能在相同的操作模式下使用，因为这将需要连续的离子流动。提出的创新解决方案是将离子导体与将离子势转换为电子势的能量存储系统相耦合。该建议将研究新型离子热电发电设备，该设备由夹在两个能量存储装置之间的离子导体组成，包括超级电容器和插入材料。这是一种新的方法，旨在回收低品位余热，增加工业过程的可持续性，减少碳排放。

Electronic thermoelectrics use semiconductors to convert waste heat into electricity. This is an established energy generation technology, for example, used by NASA to power the Mars Rovers. However, it is not very suitable for low-grade waste heat recovery due to poor power generation from small temperature differences.Ionic conductors generate much larger thermal voltages and are better suited to near room temperature operation. However, they cannot be used in the same mode of operation as this would require a continuous flow of ions. The innovative solution proposed is to couple the ionic conductor with an energy storage system that converts the ionic potential to an electronic one.This proposal will investigate novel ionic thermoelectric power generation devices consisting of an ionic conductor sandwiched between two energy stores, including supercapacitors and insertion materials. This is a novel approach targeted at recovery of low-grade waste heat, increasing the sustainability of industrial processes and reducing carbon emissions.